Felina
by Dragon's Lover1
Summary: Adrian used to be a perfectly normal human being, until SHE came around. Now she has responsibility she doesn't want, and is straining to build and have a normal life for once. But together, they have a mystery to solve, for neither can do it on her own.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Own only Felina. That it. And a few more invented people, but concerning Batman Beyond – just Felina. That it. Thank you, and good night. No, wait – don't go. Read on. Yeah, that's it! Ha ha!!

Felina 

Prologue

Adrian wandered from place to place, store to store, deep in the heart of Gotham. She remembered so long ago that it was much nicer, even with the Joker, Penguin, Two-face and the others. But now, there were more enemies, with better weapons, and as such, Batman had to have better weapons, and he must be smarter than before. Speaking of, a police car raced by her side, and she held her black cloak closer around her, even as the hood fell down. Looking up she caught the new and improved Batmobile zoom above her head, and she smiled. It was also very long ago that she stole a kiss from the infamous Batman, catching him by surprise and leaving with a satisfied cat smile. 

_Cat smile, _her mind repeated. It was so funny, now that she thought about it. She remembered following after Catwoman a few times, hoping to talk with her and find out just how she became such a cool villain. Sighing, Adrian flipped the hood back up, hiding her white hair and spooky green eyes. 

_Cats have nine lives, or so they say, _she thought, continuing her trek. Next to her, inside a building, raised voices argued over how to raise a child and what to do with diapers and so on. So many parts of this town were going to Hell, and Batman was already chasing the big, bad villains that challenged his power. _Nine lives aren't a good thing, _she reminded herself. _Unless you know exactly what to do with them. _She smiled.

It was a quote she took directly from Catwoman, after having caught her. She taught her a lot, mostly soundless moving and the agility a cat has. But that's all Catwoman was. A domesticated cat. Adrian, however, was something completely different.

But she couldn't dwell on these things. She had to plan out her entire life all over again, and that began with high school. After all, she had the body of a teenager, or would again, in just another year. And then she could live her life exactly the way she wanted from the very beginning, becoming a person who would help the people who needed it here, in these run-down places where criminal activity ruled all. Soon, very soon, she would be better than Catwoman, or Batman, or even Superman. 

It was futile to wish to be everywhere at once, but she could try, and she could be here for a very long time. After all, cats had nine lives, so the more the cats you have, the more the eternities you have. And she had a _lot _of cats. On one point, this is exactly what she wanted. To be just like a cat. On another, this is nothing like what she wanted. What was that thing Spiderman said to her a long time ago, when she managed to steal a kiss from him as well? _With great power comes great responsibility. _

In that case, she wished she never had the great power.


	2. One

Disclaimer: Own only Felina. That it. And a few more invented people, but concerning Batman Beyond – just Felina. That it. Thank you, and good night. No, wait – don't go. Read on. Yeah, that's it! Ha ha!!

Felina 

Chapter One: School

The most annoying sound in the world came back on all too soon – the alarm clock. Terry yawned and flipped onto his stomach, wanting nothing more than to just sleep all of today. Ever since he took on the role of Batman, he never got enough sleep. School plus Batman plus late nights minus several dates equals a very tired, very unhappy Terry. He groaned when the annoying sound didn't stop, and clutched the pillow to his head. A second later he sighed and forced himself up. Yawning again he ran his fingers through his hair and slapped the alarm off. He already had a feeling that today was going to be. . . interesting. 

Glancing at the clock he deducted that for today, breakfast was going to be bumped to lunch. He was just happy he switched over showers from mornings to nights. That made everything a little less hectic. 

No little brothers appeared that morning, which was a good thing. A very good thing. Now if he'd only move out. Terry sighed and grabbed his jacket and backpack. _If only. _

He met Max and Dana before school, making up stories about why he, yet again, didn't make his date with Dana. Max helped out as best she could, but the best excuses were mostly used up. He could tell Dana was trying her best to forgive him, but also that she was getting suspicious about _why _he always missed out and needed Max's help to come up with excuses.

"Hi," a voice said from behind him. He turned and saw the owner of the voice. . . and caught his breath. 

A woman, just above Dana's height, with short white hair and a red outfit, holding a few books in her arms and a pen was standing there with a nice, friendly smile. The right sleeve and pant leg were longer than the left ones, and had big holes cut in them. Her top was cut slanted to show her stomach just enough to let people know she was keeping herself in shape. The left leg and sleeve was much shorter, barely hanging down a few inches. She had boots as well, but they were perfectly matched, red as well, and about half a foot high. Her eyes were an almost spooky green color, made all the more obvious with green eye shadow, and narrowed. She had a big gold hoop earring in her right ear, and her hair parted to the right side. A new student?

"I'm Adrian," she said, holding out her hand to Terry. He shook her hand and introduced himself. She wrote something down and then went to Dana. She offered her hand again, and Dana shook it. Then Max, and wrote something down twice more.

"What are you writing?" Max asked. Adrian gave a her a very soft smile.

"This little trick I use on my first day of school. There's a surprise at the end for everybody who says 'hi' back." 

"So what did you write?" Dana asked, leaning over to inspect her paper.

Adrian laughed. "I said it was a surprise, but if you must know. . ." She shifted her books and turned the paper to Dana. Dana gasped and looked directly at Adrian, her eyes asking for an answer. "I write down the name of people who said 'hi', no matter who it is, and do a quick sketch and description so I won't forget who is who."

"Really?" Terry asked, going over to look at the paper. It turned out to be a rather thick pad, and she was halfway through it. There was a small figure of him, Dana and Max, with a letter or two on each part of their clothes and body, which seemed to be for color reference. A name was above each head, and the paper was previously drawn into nine sections for each page. "You do this for everyone you meet?"

"Yes. Well, no," Adrian corrected herself. "Just for the people who say hello to me. I have another pad for the people who ignore me." To prove her point, she pulled out another pad, half the size of the one Dana was still holding. On the very first page was Chelsea, right next to [DL: I forget his name. The mean quarterback who turned out to be a joker in a straightjacket.] and above somebody else who he'd never seen before.

"Who's that?" he asked, pointing to the guy.

Adrian leaned over and laughed. "I don't know; that's why he's in here." 

"Oh," Terry said, and blushed a little as the other girls laughed. 

"If you don't mind," she said, taking back both pads, "I have a lot more people to see. But I'll see you guys again." She waved as she left, and jogged to catch up with a short redhead with bad acne. She spoke to the boy and held out her hand, and he drooled in reply. That didn't seem to deter Adrian as she tried to guess his name.

"She's really nice," Dana observed. "She never let her smile down once."

"I noticed," Max said back, both of them not really seeing how Terry was trying to sum her up. 

_A surprise? _He thought. _It could be something really good, or something really bad. But she doesn't seem like the type of girl to be plotting students' murders, so. . . What could it be? _The bell rang and broke into his chain of thought, and he caught Adrian skip off and ask a tall blonde girl something and hold out her schedule. "Let's go," Terry said distractedly. 

Dana and Max went their separate ways, as did Terry. [DL: Correct if wrong, okay? I haven't seen Batman Beyond in a long time and don't remember who has which class together.] All through first period he thought about Adrian in the back of his mind, and wondered about what in the world the surprise could be.

**Adrian**

First class wasn't so bad for her. The chemistry teacher was a little mean with her being late, but overall, it was almost easy. This was her third time now to have taken this class, if you included her college years, so it passed all by with a sense of familiarty. She knew the components needed right off the bat, so when the teacher explained what was needed to be done, she just introduced herself to the girl next to her with brown hair in a high ponytail and glasses. 

During the break she interviewed as many people as possible, getting a total of seven "hellos" and four "screw yous". If she couldn't move as quickly as she could, she wouldn't have been able to get two of those "screw yous" and one "hello" in time for her next class, Algebra 2. 

That one passed easy as well. The female teacher asked her to show the class what she knew, so she did some advanced work on the board that the teacher wrote out. Ms. What? Ms. . . Ms. . . Ms Rachelle was her name!! That was it. And she nearly dropped her roll call board. She asked if Adrian should be in that class, and then what grade she was in, and then if she wanted to take a higher class and so on. Adrian caught a few snide remarks pointed her way with her sensitive hearing that weren't meant for her to hear. As soon as she sat down she drew a quick sketch of the people who sneered and glared at her, trying her best to ignore how much it hurt to be rejected so fast by these students. 

After second period she took the break to – instead of meeting people and categorizing them – climb up a tall, thicker branched tree, and she fought back tears. She wasn't always this way; before, when she younger and electronics still just touching advanced, before credits, this wouldn't have bothered her at all. But after the hard years she went through and all the suffering she saw, it somehow made her softer, inside and out. 

"Hey! Adrian!" a voice called from below her. 

_Oh shit. . . this isn't the best time to be caught in a tree. . . _She swallowed and looked down, seeing the same group of three that she met before the bell. What were their names? Terence. . . no. Max? That was one. Diane? No. Danny. . . Dawn. . . Dana! That was it! And that boy was. . . was. . . "H-hi," she said, shakily, rubbing her tears away without screwing up her eye shadow. Tory, Twain. . . She jumped down, leaving her books up there, and offered a shaky smile. "Yes?"

"You've been crying," Dana said, concern in her eyes. "What happened?"

"The kids in this school can be pretty tough on the new kids," Max admitted. "Who was it this time?"

"I – uh - " Adrian stuttered a little before bowing her head, new tears starting to sting behind her eyes. "Just a- a few kids in se-second period."

"What's your second period?" Terry asked. Yes! Terry – that was his name.

"Algebra 2." Adrian lifted her head and steadied and almost real smile for them. "I'll be fine in another minute," she said, trying to give the hint that she'd be fine and they shouldn't worry.

"Of course you will – on the outside," Terry protested. 

"Tell us what happened," Dana prompted.

"We're hear to listen," Max added, almost in a voice that teased. Like a person saying to a kid "Want my candy?" while waving it in front of the child, but would only give it if the kid asked for it.

Adrian swallowed again and looked down. Her ear-length hair fell from behind her right ear in a small attempt to cover up her eyes. "They don't know I heard," she began. "I did a math problem on the board, something I guess the students in the class haven't been introduced to before, and. . ."

"They're just jealous," Max put in, interpreting her meaning to the point. "If they can't do it, then they have to alienate the people who can." She raised her arms in a "what can you do?" gesture and went on. "It's in human nature."

"I suppose so," Adrian whispered, glad that people were there to prove the point that none of it was her fault. 

"Hey, don't let those creeps get you down," Dana said, in what could very possibly be the world's gentlest voice. "If they can't keep up in their math homework, that's their fault. You're not a freak because they aren't up to your speed yet."

Adrian almost flinched at the word "freak", but managed a real smile as she lifted her head. 

"You know, class is going to start soon – and if you can do better than Algebra 2, then how about doing my homework _for _me?" he said, his voice teasing just as much as it was serious. 

Adrian laughed and nodded. "I'm not doing everything for you, but if you need help, just ask. Math is my strongest subject." Okay, so that wasn't true – but the lie held tight. It made sense and as long as she didn't screw up twice on the first day with her skills, she'd be fine. No explanations, no worries, no curious onlookers. . . Everything would be fine. Just fine.

All she had to do now was make it through the rest of the day relatively unmasked. 


	3. Two

Disclaimer: Own only Felina. That it. And a few more invented people, but concerning Batman Beyond – just Felina. That it. Thank you, and good night. No, wait – don't go. Read on. Yeah, that's it! Ha ha!!

Felina 

Chapter Two: Day's End

Adrian sighed as the seventh period bell rang. _Finally! _[DL: Here's the deal. I used to go to a school with seven periods, so this school does too. Nyah!] She got up after gathering her books together, reminding herself why she was here and that, now that the school day is over, she had a lot of running around to do. So what if this was the first time she redid school, and the first time she came up with this new "tradition?" Having a first time is just another way of saying you should do it right. 

A theory her mother used to have was "When this universe ends, another will begin, and everything that you do in this one is going to happen in that one, too. So do things right the first time," although that might have just been a way of getting her to listen and obey. Nonetheless, the idea stood firm, the whole concept of doing things right the first time. It stuck into her head and was one of the few things she lived by.

_Gotta find them, gotta them, gotta find. . . Him!!_ She thought. She ran up to a nice blonde boy with hazel eyes and started talking. This tradition, if it worked as she wanted it to, would become a really great idea, and should have the kindness effect she wanted. Or, she hoped so.

**Terry**

God, he was tired. Last night had had a particularly tough battle with a bunch of jokers, around thirty or forty of them. He won, but got a nice bruise on his right side because of it, and the fight had lasted until two in the morning. Bruce gave him that "I know what you're going through" look again before he left, which could also be translated into "I know you shouldn't have to have this responsibility, and I'm sorry for it".

He had a hard time throughout seventh period in staying awake, mainly because of how his teacher droned on in just the right voice to make you _want _to sleep. He yawned as he sat down on a bench and waited for Max and Dana to get there. But he was drifting off again. . . 

Giving another yawn he laid down along the bench, letting himself get some rest. 

After what seemed to be another few seconds a hand was on his shoulder, shaking gently to wake him up. He moaned some protest and used his elbow as a shield against the sun. [DL: I do that when I sleep. Move my elbow over my eyes so it blocks out the light completely.] 

"Come on, Terry," Dana's voice broke in. "You slept all night, didn't you?"

He moaned again, not liking the turn of subjects. "S-studying. . ." he managed.

"He was up for a long time last night," Max said. "I was trying to help him learn the periodic table of elements, but I don't think he got it."

"No big surprise," Dana said back.

"What's with him?" Adrian's voice appeared. 

"Stayed up all night again," Max said, in a disapproving tone. 

"Aahhh," Adrian said, and joined the girls in shaking him awake. 

Terry whimpered with the need for sleeping and tried to shoo away the girls' hands, but they just giggled and laughed and kept poking, shaking and tickling. "Hey, come on, stop it!" he whined. More laughter followed his comment and then the hands were _pulling, _and pulled him right off the bench. He rolled onto his stomach and put his arms around his head, trying to sleep again. 

The three girls circled him almost like vultures would before choosing a spot somewhere around him and shoving and whining at him. 

"Cut it out!" Terry tried again, only his voice was muffled in the school's carpet. A few passersby laughed at the three girls trying to wake up a very reluctant boy, and a boy with red hair looked jealously at him. "Okay okay!" he finally said, sitting up and yawning again. 

Adrian bit her lip and smiled at Max and Dana, and they all got the idea she was getting at. They started shoving him again, whining all over again, leaving Terry very confused as to why they hadn't stopped yet.

Adrian winked at Dana and whispered for her to play along. "Come on, you can't keep ignoring all of us!" she said.

Dana blinked and then joined in. "Yeah, we're not just your slaves!"

Max caught on and went in for the kill. "Are you going to take us out tonight or what?" she snapped. 

They were all standing now and all three girls began vying for his attention, tugging at his sleeve or turning his face this way or that. Terry was starting to blush now, never expecting this, despite how his male pride was enjoying it. He laughed nervously. "I don't what you're talking about!" 

"Aw, come on," Adrian whined. "You can't honestly say you don't remember!"

"That beautiful night we all shared," Dana went on. 

"Aren't you gonna ask us again?" Max finished. By now a whole group was surrounding them, interested at the turn of the conversation. They were making Terry sound like a real playboy.

"Wasn't it amazing?" Dana asked Adrian.

Adrian nodded and ran with it. "The best night I've ever had!" Holding back a real laugh she gave Max a glance that told her to finish this, however she wanted it to.

"I'm surprised you got McDonalds to make us fresh food!" Max ended it all with a snip at McDonalds. 

A bunch of the onlookers groaned and left, and a few looked disappointed. "That's it?" one guy said. 

After the hall filtered out and nobody was paying attention anymore, all three girls burst out laughing, while Terry sat back down with a slight blush still on his cheeks. 

"That wasn't very nice," he accused the girls, who were now laughing hysterically. 

Adrian was holding her middle and rolling on the ground, Max was leaning against a wall, and Dana was sitting on the ground with a hand over her mouth. 

"Yo-you should've - " Adrian began, but couldn't finish.

"S-seen your. . . your face," Max finished for her.

All that just got Dana laughing harder, and Terry allowed himself a few laughs as well. After all, it probably _was _pretty funny. He was about to snap at them again to be quiet before someone came up and asked about it, but before he did another thought entered his mind. "Adrian, was that you're 'surprise'?"

She stopped laughing and sat up, realization sparking in her eyes. "No, that was a random event," she said, and stood up. She gathered her things and scribbled something onto a piece of paper. After a few minutes she flipped it over and scribbled on another piece, and then ripped them both out. She walked over to Dana then, and handed her one. Then she gave the other to Max, and went over to Terry.

"My surprises," she said, "differ on men and women. They - " she pointed at the girls who looked impressed – "get a specialized drawing each. And men - " she pointed at Terry – "get something else."

"What?" he asked, and blinked. Smiling again, Adrian leaned up to him and gave his cheek a small kiss. It wasn't all that easy, but he kept himself from blushing badly. So _that _was her way of saying "thanks" for saying "hi" back when she introduced herself?

She stood up and gallantly made a sweeping bow to the girls. "I must take my leave now, for I have other pupils to find and reward. Farewell!" she finished, with a wave of her hand and ran off down the hallway. 

Dana and Max said the like and turned to Terry, excitedly showing him their pictures. Dana's was her face, in a very seductive pose, eyes half shut and lips parted. There was a rose on either side of her face – the left one pointing up and the right one down – with vines growing from them that intertwined around and around her portrait. The edges faded off, and the entire thing was in pencil, which left what looked to be a glow around the roses.

Max's was a full-bodied picture, with her sitting like she was on stairs, right foot lower than the left. Her left elbow was on her knee and she had her chin in her hand, smiling softly and looking amazingly beautiful. Around her was smeared pencil lining, making it seem like she as well had a glow. Decorating around the glow was more odd vine-like sketches, in small, broken lines. Several dots also accompanied the vines, making it all the better. On each picture, at the bottom corner, was a signed name, but it read "Felina" – not "Adrian". On the top right-hand corner was the date, along with the word "Original". 

Adrian must have a real passion for art. Terry was about to complement their poses in the pictures, but his cell phone rang just then. 

With a frustrated grunt he answered it, unhappy with the way he was _always _being called. "Yeah?" he said. The girls smiled at each other and walked off, bumping into other girls with the same type of beautifully done poses on pictures. 

"Now, Terry," was all Bruce said before the line went dead.

Terry put the phone back in his pocket and got up, sighing as he left. He stopped off at home and dropped his backpack on the ground and told his Mom and Matt where he was going.

"What is it this time?" he asked, flipping up his mask as he entered the BatCave. 

Bruce looked at him. "It's somewhat strange. Watch this," he said, clicking a button and the screen popped up with surveillance footage. 

A woman, who had a strange red outfit on, was leaping around and kicking the crap out of a gang of T's. When she stopped she looked up at the camera and smiled, and that's when Bruce paused the screen. He zoomed in to show her face, which consisted of cat eyes, nose, and mouth. She even had whiskers.

"She's been spliced?" Terry asked.

"I don't know." Bruce changed the screen to show a few more details of her – like her tail, cat's feet and claws. She had very strange coloring as well, and every part of her that was exposed showed hollowed spots, solid spots, and short or long stripes. She looked like every type of cat was put into her.

"At first," Bruce went on, "I thought she might have been Catwoman. But she doesn't look like her at all, and has more developed moves." He turned to Terry. "I think she didn't start this fight, but be careful anyway. Barbara knows about her as well – and she's very fast."

"Agility of a cat," Batman – since Terry turned over to that personality – observed.

"More like all the great cats of the jungle," Bruce corrected. "Look at her coloring," he added, zooming out to show all of her. 

Her stomach was white, though mostly hidden because of her strapless bathing suit-looking thing. Around that, in a circle, was yellow, then orange, then brown, and black. Her tail was all black.

"Okay," Batman went on, leaving it open that he didn't quite understand Bruce's meaning. 

"Black – for a panther. Orange and yellow for the tiger and cheetah. White for a snow leopard, and brown for just about every other cat in the world. Understand now?" Bruce didn't wait for an answer, but went on. "Panthers are very good stalkers and climbers. The tiger is the most powerful, and the cheetah is the fastest. The agility comes from all the cats, and I'm guessing, mostly from the brown part of her."

"You don't know what kind of cat is the brown?"

"No, I don't. It might be some kind of genetically enhanced cat, probably from a leopard or something to that effect. It might even me a wolf or something, just to add diversity to the mix." He turned to Batman. "She's been made to be the perfect cat, so watch out."

"Alright," Batman replied, slightly annoyed. He'd already gathered that he should be careful – he was Batman; he's _always _careful. "I'm going. When did this come in?"

"Yesterday, at about one in the morning."

"So she's nocturnal," he observed. "My type of girl," he added as he left in the Batmobile.


	4. Three

Disclaimer: Own only Felina. That it. And a few more invented people, but concerning Batman Beyond – just Felina. That it. Thank you, and good night. No, wait – don't go. Read on. Yeah, that's it! Ha ha!!

Felina 

Chapter Three: First Meeting

Adrian sat on her bed the instant she got home. School was tiring in so many ways, and yet, for some reason, it seemed to revitalize her as well. It was so tiring to go through all the work all over again, but since she had already been to school, she knew the routines. It was easy, and a time for her to relax. But she couldn't be relaxed for much longer. Soon, the sun would set, and _she _would come out of hiding, the person Adrian both loved and hated at the same time. 

She loved her because she was powerful – could do all the things Adrian herself never could. But at the same time, it was such a curse, having _her _around. 

Adrian sighed and leaned back against the wall. She pulled out her pad of paper and looked over the people drawn inside of them, with scribbled down notes and names. She ran through them once more, making absolutely sure she didn't miss one, and double-checked whom she found after school and who she didn't. She gave them each something they would cherish for a while, at the very least. She got on good terms with a lot of people this way. Not that her somewhat sexy clothing didn't already get her a few. . . ahem. . ._ admirers_. 

Each girl got a picture she drew – on the spot – consisting of little designs and poses that she found fitting of them. Each man got a small kiss on the cheek or forehead, to show she was comfortable with them, but not entirely willing to go any further. _A kiss. . ._

She smiled, thinking of what she, Dana and Max had done to Terry after school. Poor Terry; he was so tired and then they played their game, getting him all confused and making him blush. The other students would be talking about this for a while – the ones that saw, anyway. Rumors would spread and then get out of control, but Adrian knew they'd eventually die. They always die. In anther few days something new would come up, and then Terry would be yesterday's news and back to being there but hardly noticed – nothing like the popular kids that always get drooled over.

But thinking of kisses. . . it brought up bad memories she'd rather not face. She had a light mood, and wasn't ready to ruin it. That was _her _job – ruining Adrian's night and very possibly day. But for now, Adrian was happy, and let herself fall back on her bed and close her eyes, determined to get some sleep before _she _would return. 

** Nine P.M. **

Batman flew over the sky without his jet, looking around closely for this new being that resembled a cat in all too many ways. Something was going to happen, he was sure of it. He could feel it in his gut, warning him that tonight would be a slow night, and he'd have to stop to think about every little detail tomorrow. Fast, yet slow, his mind corrected. 

Things would go by slowly, and yet, once something did happen, everything would move all too quickly. _How confusing, _he thought. _Since when did I start to think about things like this? _he wondered. 

Below him, muggers tried to steal a woman's purse, who punched them both and sprayed them with mace before running to the nearest police officer. Buildings passed by with shouting inside, yelling things at each other, arguing over who gets the last pretzel or why the child shouldn't be punished. He never liked this part of town, but this is where that cat was last seen. She'd be here again, and he knew it.

A flash of something red caught his eye, and he turned to follow it down an alley. He landed and started walking, keeping close to the walls. The flash went by again, rounding a corner, and he followed it. But it was too far away; he couldn't tell what the red was. Narrowing his eyes, he turned the dial on his belt and went invisible, and then ran as quietly as he could to follow the red. 

It went around more and more corners, until he lost it, somewhere in a subway. He looked around for a moment, and took in the falling-apart details. _An abandoned subway, _he thought, and took a few steps closer to the inside. Some boards lay in the center of the place, with writing such as "Dangerous – do not enter" and graffiti all over them. 

"I know you're here," he said, ignoring the part of his brain that told him this could be a trap and he could've been lured here. "Show yourself!" he ordered.

No reply came at first. And then:

"Why are you following me?" echoed off the walls and ceilings, making the sound come from every direction.

He looked around again, trying to catch some glimpse of some sort of movement somewhere. [DL: Hee hee. I had fun with that sentence!] "Where are you?" he asked, and saw something move in the corner of his eye. By the time his head snapped to the left it was gone, with nothing, no sign of whether or not that was just a shadow. The only thing in that direction was the subway itself, with boards hanging loosely from all around it.

". . . Hiding," the voice replied, which he now gathered as female. "And waiting."

"Waiting for what?" he snapped, getting annoyed at the conversation leading him nowhere.

". . .Why are you following me?" she repeated.

"You're acting suspicious," he replied, still keeping his eyes and ears alert. "Hiding and running away like that."

"You're one to talk, following me like I'm some kind of criminal. But then, I guess you wouldn't know the difference. You don't know me."

Batman's left eye opened more than his right, confused and irritated by her statement. "How are you sure of that?"

"You're a new Batman," she said, simply.

He bit back a growl. "No, I'm not. I'm the same Batman there's always been," he snapped.

"You're lying. I can. . . smell that you're different. The second one to come around."

"_Smell_?" he repeated. "You can _smell me?"_

"Yes. You. . . you smell like someone I know. . . Or used to know." Hidden well, the cat from the camera stood with her back to a column, her back to Batman, just in front of the subway tracks and a small stream of light. Her eyes narrowed as she looked down, her wavy red hair falling before her eyes. 

Batman, still confused decided upon changing the subject. "Why did you attach those T's?"

"I didn't," she replied, jerking her head up angrily. "They came here, and I had to chase them and have them chase me for a long time before I could. . . _dispose of them."_

"It looked like you attacked them in the tape. Are you really the cat from the tape? Or are you just wasting my time?" He narrowed his eyes in anger and looked around again. Stupid echo. . .

She drew in a sharp breath and straightened up at his words. Trying to keep his attention focused somewhere else, she thrust her hand out and then back, creating a quick shadow that would be there and then would be gone before Batman could tell where it was. "Which answer would you prefer?"

Batman caught the shadow on the wall, but didn't notice it was a shadow until he saw light coming in through a small crack in the right wall, about as far up as could be. He followed the trail of light as it passed three columns, and deducted that the last one was perfectly on level for someone to trick him by just waving their hand or foot in the light. "The right answer," he finished their conversation, going to the right side and hoping that the echo would confuse the girl. 

Sure enough, a hand soon came around the edge on his right side, black furred and with odd red clothing. Black, shiny claws decorated the hand, making it beautiful as well as deadly. _Be careful_, Batman warned himself. _Those things don't look too friendly. _

Making noise to lead her to believe he was heading for where the shadow had blinked, he went around to that side. And when he got there he grabbed he hand, yanking her out of the place and grabbing her shoulders to hold her in place.

She looked a lot more exotic up close, that's for sure. She hissed and then growled like a tiger at him, yanking herself back but trying to keep her claws off of him. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked her, tightening his hold slightly on her shoulders.

She hissed again and then kicked, cat's feet in perfect proportion to her legs hitting his chest together. He got knocked back and the cat lady flipped backwards, latching onto the column a good twenty feet up and holding on with her claws around the corners.

Batman stood up and glared at her before talking again. "What are you doing now?!" 

"Staying away from you," she snapped back. [DL: Courtesy of Spiderman the movie.] Her long red hair moved gently as she jerked her head, suddenly hearing something coming their way. Her hair fell to show her ears, which were halfway between human ears and a cat's. They were long and folded, but had the inner makings of a human's, still on the side of her head, and were pushed back like a human's. "Somebody's coming," she said, alerting Batman.

He jerked his own head, searching for sounds while staying perfectly quiet. An echo had begun in the right side of the tunnel, yelling and laughing like a group of juveniles had just done something terrible and they were excited about it. It was their bad luck that Batman was there, with this catlike female, who as well seemed like she was the type to give justice when the law couldn't find the troublemakers.

She smiled and crawled around to the other side, using her feet as props and resting her arms on her drawn-up knees. Once the kids – four boys and four girls – entered her line of vision, she smiled and said, "Hello little ones."

The obvious leader – a boy with short blonde hair and dressed in a black leather jacket and pants, and a black tight t-shirt and boots – looked up sharply and narrowed his eyes. "What are you supposed to be? A wall-crawler?"

She jumped down, hearing Batman run into the shadows to watch this scene play out and stood up fully. "A cat. A very dangerous cat."

He smirked. "And your name, Ms. Kitty?" The seven others laughed at his statement.

"Felina," she said, gently. Against the wall, Batman stifled a gasp. _Felina? That sounds so familiar. . . Where have I heard it before? "And you are?"_

"Jase," he said. He gestured back at each of the people in his pack. "Ron, Maharet, Chance, Gutter, Hanny, Leela, and Tame." Ron had some black tattoo over his left eye, no hair, and dressed exactly like Jase. Maharet hung onto Ron's arm, sporting a slutty black mini skirt, zip-up vest and half shaved, long purple hair and knee-high zip-up boots. Chance and Gutter looked like twins, man and woman. They dressed alike, except for Gutter's clothes were shorter and tighter. Chance's was this long black zip-up t-shirt with white along the zipper and dark blue loose jeans and sneakers. Gutter's was a tight, very short sleeveless shirt exactly like Chance's, sneakers that matched, and very short cut-offs. 

Hanny, Leela and Tame looked a little too much like each other. Hanny was the last guy, with a nose ring and chain that hooked onto his right ear. His hair stuck straight up and fell forward at the tips, red and shining. His clothes were this sleeveless red shirt, tight black leather pants and buckle-boots over the pants, with a nice matching set of choker and wrist backs with spikes. Leela and Tame were mirror images, both blonde and having the same outfit. Leela's hair was knee-length, loose, and flopped over to her right. She had tiny dark red leather shorts and boots that tied up the front of the same color and material, reaching just inches below her shorts. Her top was tie-up as well, showing a lot of cleavage and v-cut, with a choker just above with a cross pendant – which was black and upside-down – that matched her wrist-bands, the exact same only with more crosses. Tame was the same only her clothes were dark blue and her hair was flopped the other way. All three had black eye-shadow and lips, along with several odd peircings – hoops, chains and crosses. 

"What were you laughing about?" Felina asked, looking like she blended in perfectly with the crowd. 

"Having fun," Leela and Tame said at the same time. "Would you like to come along? We're always open for new comers."

"That depends."

"On what?" Ron asked, standing up a little straighter. 

"On whether or not you like my style."

"What's your style?" Chance asked, looking as if he couldn't care less.

"Kicking the asses of juvenile delinquents," she said, and started punching. 

All of them attacked at the same moment, thinking they could take out one cat-like woman – forget if without weapons mankind would just be cat food for any wild cat. Batman took the chance to sneak up on them, and once he leapt into the melee – Felina was holding herself really well – they all paused to look at him. And then chaos followed, every single of the weird group throwing themselves at either Felina or Batman, hoping to win and have some sort of trophy for the major criminals of Gotham.

Too bad they didn't have a chance. Felina and Batman left them all tied up and handcuffed, outside the police station. Then they got back to their arguments.

"Honestly, if I was a bad guy, then why would I have helped you with those guys?!" Felina snapped. 

Batman didn't even bother to answer. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back, but before he could handcuff her, Felina's tail hit him, hard. Right between the legs. And then she ran off, disappearing into the darkness and probably around so many corners that he wouldn't he able to find her again, even if he flew above her. He sighed and got back into the jet to do once-over the city to find somebody to fight. That woman was already getting on his nerves.

--**--**--**--**--

Okay, here's the deal. I already have a picture drawn of Felina, and Adrian as well. As soon as I scan it (and yahoo stops being such a bitch) I'll post them up on my fanart page and you can check them out. Ask anybody who read my Inuyasha (Anime) fic **Transformations. **I am _gooood._

Well, then. . .

See ya!


	5. Four

Disclaimer: Own only Felina. That it. And a few more invented people, but concerning Batman Beyond – just Felina. That it. Thank you, and good night. No, wait – don't go. Read on. Yeah, that's it! Ha ha!

****

Felina

Chapter Four: A Wonderful Day

Felina entered the small apartment through the window, the same way she left. It was time for her to go back into hiding and rest, until tomorrow night. It sucked that she only had six hours a night to be free, and the other eighteen she had were just resting. But Adrian seemed to like it when she was hiding. She seemed to like it almost too much. Like she hated Felina or something.

Felina groaned and held her stomach, hating all these pains she always went through. Every time she woke up and went to sleep she went through this, and as much as she loved being out and being who she was, she hated the men that did this to her. She wanted nothing more than to kill them for it.

The only problem was, she never had enough time to hunt them down. Never. And even now, she couldn't dwell on it. She was going to sleep now, and nothing could prevent that, and she couldn't fight it. She had no say in how long she stayed awake, and on top of that, this night was particularly hard on her.

First it was just running from Batman, and then the fight with those eight, and then a group of Jokerz attacked her after she got away from Batman. And then there were the muggers; they'd never leave her alone. But she liked being able to catch the guys that deserved to be in jail. It made her feel a little better to know that she was helping make the streets a little safer, a little cleaner.

Now if she could only stay awake longer, do a little more a night. . . Yeah.

If only.

**_-- Next Morning at School --_**

Adrian found several more people that she still had to thank and gave them their gifts all day long, as well as jotting down more sketches from each of the new people she met. She ran into Dana before school, too, and had a little chat.

Every part of her was refreshed and ready to take on anything that came her way, and that's just what she did. Every time a teacher asked her a question she gave a fully explained answer, leaving out no detail. Because of that, she heard a guy mutter "Brains and beauty, a deadly combination" during her third hour. A lot of people at the school were starting to hate her for either her smarts, looks or attitude, which were in fact mostly women.

A lot of them kept trying to corner her, and a few tried to get her to fight them in hopes she'd be blamed and kicked out. But then, Adrian never took the bait. Nothing they did or said fazed her, and nothing they threatened her with got her scared. She just knew better. After living through high school once, you learn who's to be taken seriously and who's just bluffing, and this was the second time she went through high school. She knew all the things every junior should, only early. She had a major advancement over the other students walking around.

During lunch she climbed up a tree and watched all the people walking around. Yes, she brought a lunch for herself, but at that point she wasn't that hungry. She herself was surprised that she steeled up for school so fast, but seeing as how the students of this school were particularly tough, it was no wonder she had to. She caught a few girls still staring at the portraits she drew for them, still amazed and flattered.

After a while of just looking, she sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes. It was a really nice day. She could smell fresh air for the first time in years, could hear birds in flight and singing. And to top it off, a light breeze was gently guiding fallen leaves to another resting spot. DL: Geez, I keep this up and I'll want to go to that school! It felt like a perfect day.

She zoomed in on her hearing, listening to every sound to come by. Leaves brushing against each other, students laughing and telling secrets to one another, a group of boys playing tricks on each other, and, beneath it all, the heartbeat of every person within her hearing. Some fast, some paced, some nervously thumping. . . She loved life. Felina would probably agree with her that today was a wonderful day.

But then, Felina hasn't ever _seen _the day. Not once in her entire lifetime.

There you go again, Adrian berated herself. _Thinking about her to ruin your day. Now you've gone and done it. _Sighing, Adrian gathered her things and jumped down from the tree, nearly landing on someone, too. _Great work, _she mentally hissed at herself.

Adrian berated herself. Sighing, Adrian gathered her things and jumped down from the tree, nearly landing on someone, too. she mentally hissed at herself. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" she said quickly.

"No, I'm alright," the person said.

Adrian blinked as the voice registered. "Terry?"

Said person looked up. "Oh, hey Adrian," he laughed. "You act like a cat, sitting up in that tree," he pointed out as he stood. "Especially with that landing."

Adrian laughed, a little unnerved by his perceptiveness. "Yeah, well, you could learn a lot by watching cats. They're very graceful."

"I guess a person could learn the same thing by watching you," he replied, and then they both blushed and looked away. That didn't come out so well.

"Well, where's Dana and Max?" Arian said to keep a silence from descending.

"Off doing something girlish. They wouldn't tell me what."

"Yeah, well, how much could a guy get about girlish stuff?" she quipped.

Terry laughed. "Good point."

"You're in pretty good spirits this morning," she pointed out.

"So are you."

Adrian just shrugged. She opened her mouth to reply but at that moment the bell rang. "Oh, darn," she muttered. "See you later," she said to Terry as she ran to her next class.

"See you!" Terry waved back as he took off too.

The rest of the school day went by without any type of problem. No meetings with angry/jealous women, no perceptive men picking her apart, no nervous/awkward silences, just a normal quiet day. By the time she left for her apartment she'd gotten back to every person on her good list - checked it twice, actually - and managed to keep her smile. It was a good day to be alive, it truly was.

**_-- Wayne Manor --_**

"Tell me again. _Why _am I here so soon?"

"Terry, I'm not going to repeat myself," Bruce snapped back. Ace went up to Terry and licked his hand.

"That's right, Ace," Terry said and knelt down to pet the dog. "You don't think this is nice either, do you?"

Ace made a sound like a moan and went to lay down on a rug.

"Traitor," Bruce grumbled. "Let's go, Terry," he said and went down to the bat cave without waiting to see if he would follow.

Terry sighed and obediently followed the old man. Sometimes he just wished he never took up this job. It was really cutting into his life. Like sleep. He missed that.

"Watch her movements," Bruce ordered. He played back what Terry was seeing when he was fighting Felina, though that didn't last long. And then everything Terry saw when she fought those eight guys in the broken subway system.

"I'm watching," Terry muttered in monotone. He'd seen it once before, so why would he need to see it again? He watched it over as Bruce instructed four times before something else caught his eye. "Wait - rewind that," he said to Bruce, who hadn't even left the controls. "Play it back."

Knowing Bruce, he'd already seen what Terry was just now catching, and was waiting for Terry to see it too. He played it in slow motion, and Felina's moves slowed considerably, but were still fast. "There!" he said, and Bruce paused it.

Felina was midair. She was kicking one of the guys, and her hand was claws out towards a girl. But that wasn't the thing. The girl was wincing, and Felina was, too. She looked very reluctant to hit the girl.

"So she isn't one of the bad guys," Terry observed. "Another vigilante?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Perhaps," Bruce said. "She might just be out to make a name for herself."

"But there were no cameras around in there," Terry pointed out. "Nobody could see what she was doing. It's like. . . Like she wants to make things better from behind the scenes."

"That doesn't make what she does right."

"Well, Batman's exactly the same," Terry countered. "A vigilante that was accepted by the people and the police."

Bruce grumbled something and played the scene again, reluctantly giving in. Terry was right, and he knew it, but he's always been the teacher. When the student bests the teacher is when the student goes off by himself, and knowing Terry, he'd get himself killed before he learned all he needed to know about being by himself. Which meant Bruce had to always find a way to be right, to prove that Terry still needed to be taught.

"Do you think she'll show up again tonight?"

But then, Terry seemed to know just when to say something to make him feel like the teacher again. It was a strange circle, but it never failed to work. "I'd bet my identity on it," Bruce said back and stopped the film. "For now, you have some free time."

"Yes!" Terry crowed and ran out before Bruce could say one more thing to him. He hadn't made it to one date with Dana in two months, and now he had his chance. He could surprise her and make her smile. She had such a beautiful smile.

Dana was home, doing the last of her homework when he called. It took her less than a second to agree and about half an hour to get ready, and Terry was there a second after she was finished.

The two of them went to a nice dinner and dancing place, making it through the date entirely - without interruption - for the first time since he started being Batman. Dana seemed just as happy as him; she smiled all through dinner and their three dances. She couldn't have been happier, and neither could Terry.

It was really a great day to be alive.

**_:End Chapter:_**

Lovely, no? Sigh Thank you Bruce! Giving him extra time for once! Those two. . . sigh What lovebirds, huh? Well well, here's good news. I have the Adrian/Felina picture up on my site now! If you want to see it, I have my site on my bio page. Go for it! Although I _did _get the description of Felina a little wrong. Oh, well. Can't be right all the time.

See ya!


	6. Five

I have given this much thought, and have finally decided where I'm going with this fic. Now that the plot has been chosen, I'll do my best to stay on track and get it finished soon. This chapter is slightly explicit, I've done my best to make it not as naughty as I'm capable of.

**Felina**

**Chapter 5: Best Night**

After the date with Dana, she invited Terry back to her house for a while. Along the way she told him that her parents were gone for about a week, visiting some of her father's family out of state. Terry's sense told him that there was more to that statement than just letting him know, but he wisely kept his mouth shut about it.

"So," he said as he shut the door behind him. "What were you thinking of doing here?"

And Dana smiled at him then, a smile that both doubled his heart rate and calmed his senses in one. She said, "I was hoping we could go upstairs. . . I don't think you've ever seen my room."

He shook his head, and for a moment that look in her eyes kept him from breathing right; he couldn't have said a word right now if he'd tried.

She turned to go up the stairs, then paused and looked back at him. She raised at brow in question, smirking just a little, and Terry stepped forward.

For a full minute he had no control over his body. In fact, it seemed Dana was the one pulling his strings. She took his hand and led the way up to her room, and while he glanced around the room, he heard her shut the door.

His heart rate had now tripled. She couldn't possibly be thinking about what he was, could she? He couldn't help turning around to ask her, but the words never left his lips.

She had taken off the jacket she wore to the date, and her hands were on his shoulders. She was standing on her toes as well as pulling him down a little. If he could have spoken, he would've said her name. Instead, he opted for kissing her, his hands moving of their own accord to lightly grasp her sides.

Dana drew back after a moment, but despite her calm demeanor, he could feel and see signs of nervousness: the tint to her cheeks, her hands shaking, avoiding his eyes while being unable to look away.

His mind was far too decisive at this point to not tell him what she was thinking, what she wanted with him here, with her parents away, after such a pleasant date. And if her actions hadn't spoken loud enough, she opened her mouth and spoke it aloud.

"Terry, I. . ." she began.

He nodded. "I think I know, Dana," he replied.

Her blush darkened as she smiled. "That saves a lot of time and giggles," she half-joked.

He smiled back. "I just. . . I need to know why you chose now," he said, carefully. Glancing away, he added, "And why me."

She hugged him and sighed. "I chose you because I love you, Terry."

His heart jumped at those words, and his arms reflexively pulled her close. His smile came back.

"And I choose now," she went on, "because you actually pulled through for me." Leaning back, she teased him, "You made it through the whole date."

"I'll make it through the whole night," he vowed. "As long as you want me to stay."

She kissed him again, and this one was surging with her joy. He answered in likeness, letting her know how happy he was, too.

Everything that happened next happened in flashes, certain scenes and sensations where he came back to himself for a few brief moments during a haze of warm pleasure and love. Her hands on his chest, feeling the muscles there. The taste of her skin when he kissed her neck. The sound of her moan when he first touched her breast. The squeak of her bed when he sat down so she could take off his shirt. The look in her eyes when she whispered his name.

All of it, those memories, they were treasures in his mind. As great as Dana herself, a treasure in his arms.

Unfortunately, he didn't turn his cell phone off. It began ringing after they had laid down, when his fingers were working on the buttons down the left side of her dress. The familiar ring crushed the moment, doomed the promise of the night. He moaned and dropped his head onto a pillow.

And beneath him, Dana had gone still. "Maybe," she tried, "maybe he won't try a second time, if you just let it ring."

It was a good hope. Terry turned his head and tried to spot his jacket, which happened to be across the room, where they had begun stripping. Closer to the bed were shoes and his socks, along with his belt.

When the phone stopped ringing, he held his breath, staring at the pocket and willing Bruce to not call again. Not tonight, not when he was so close to Dana, when she was so willing to be with him. But the phone rang again.

Which meant it was important.

Terry grabbed the pillow his face was pressed to and sat up, clutching the pillow to his face and yelling into it. _You damned old fart, you just can't let me have **one** perfect night, can you!_ his mind screamed.

"Terry. . ."

He dropped the pillow. Dana was sitting up now, too. She looked so forlorn like that, like she'd given up hope.

No. No way. He wasn't about to let **that** happen. He got up, snatched up his jacket, took out the phone – it had begun ringing a third time – flipped it open and hit the 'power' button. He dropped it on the floor again with his jacket and returned to the bed, sitting on the edge.

"You're way more important to me than an old man's whims," he told her.

Dana grinned instantly and hugged him tight around the neck, then kissed him with all of her worth. Bruce could wait; tonight, he was on Dana's time. And he knew, as he kissed her back, that after tonight, he would tell her about Batman.

**_-- Felina --_**

Where the hell was that damned thief?

She was chasing him – he had snatched a purse, two wallets, a shopping cart and a briefcase tonight, and she was going to catch him for it.

She was jumping along roofs now, leaping over the gaps between buildings. As she jumped another, she knew she wouldn't make it to the top. Instead she clung to the side and crawled her way up, leaping from time to time. Once she was on the roof, however, she was in trouble.

It seemed this particular roof was the property of Jokers. Their insignias were everywhere, as well as themselves. With the air of a woman built on pride, she stood up straight and looked down her nose at the gatherings.

There was much laughter from the Jokers, as well as whistles, lude comments and giggles. She stepped forward, and a few of the male Jokers circled her, like some predator that found its prey and enjoyed taunting it.

Who she assumed was the leader cam forward with a girl Joker on his arm. He smirked and tilted his head, looking Felina up and down. Then he laughed, an insane laugh. The kind of laugh that only lunatics knew.

"What have we here, a stray?" he asked, and his lackies laughed like he did.

"You could say that," she replied. "Who are you?"

"Me?" he asked. "Why, I'm the leader of this particular group. My name is Izual; a pleasure to see you," he said, sweeping a bow that made his men laugh and his women coo. He also took a leering look at her while doing so. "And who are you?"

"Felina," she answered. "You could say I was. . . spliced years ago."

"How many years?" he went on, looking her up and down again. "You can't be more than. . . twenty."

"Cats have nine lives, and I'm many cats," she replied easily. "I'm over eighty."

He gave a whistle of surprise. "Well, then, I suppose it's time you were buried, crone." His men laughed again, the girls shrieking at his 'wit'. "Unless you'd rather join me and me men, we're always looking for a new thrill."

"I could give you a very strong thrill," she hissed, low. "Would you like to see?"

He grinned, a maniacal grin. "Show me."

He shouldn't have said that.

**_-- Bruce --_**

He didn't get it. Terry always took the phone with, always answered it. What was different this time?

Bruce had a hard time believing that Terry had simply forgotten it somewhere. During the third call, it had cut off and a recording informed him that the phone was no longer on.

Tracing it on the computer showed that he was at Dana's house. There's only one reason why a man would go to his girlfriend's house after a date, stay there, and shut off his phone. A simple infrared light showed that heat was coming from just one room, and there was no other presence in the house.

Which left only one guess, even to those who never could take a hint. This knowledge left Bruce torn.

On the one hand, it was very important to be Batman, to protect the city, to prevent children from losing their parents, from families losing their homes, from people all over losing their lives.

On the other, it was very selfish and expectant to think that Terry would completely forego his entire social life to being a masked wonder. Bruce himself was in his early twenties when he became Batman for the first time, and even then, he lived here, above the Batcave. His money funded Batman's gadgets and vehicles, and the sidekicks'.

And Bruce had time for a social life because it was both expected and fairly easy to pull off. Batman at night, Mr. Wayne during the day; two men in one body. Terry isn't the same.

Terry has school, a family, and a girlfriend. He has friends, schoolwork, and dates. He has a little brother he has to look out for. Terry, in all, has more on his plate than Bruce Wayne ever did.

And at the moment, Bruce Wayne had little left anymore but time, a legacy, a secret, and an apprentice.

Maybe that was the biggest problem. Batman had several apprentices over his time, yet none in this day. Getting his old bones moving, Bruce got up and walked around the Batcave again.

He stopped before the glass cases holding the old uniforms. He smiled at them in memory. Bruce, Dick and Barbara. The original team. Later on, it was Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing. Sometimes Catwoman joined in the hero's work, sometimes she hindered them, sometimes she outright defied them.

Ah, Catwoman.

Bruce had fond memories of Selena. She was the only woman who continually intrigued him, mystified him, hypnotized him at times. It was something he never admitted, but Selena was perhaps the only woman he would have considered marrying in the end.

It was too bad she disappeared when she did. He was just about ready to do everything in his power to reform her and bring her into his team when she up and left. But thinking about Selena wasn't the reason why Bruce got up and crossed the room.

He studied the old outfits for a few moments. Turning away from the cases, he sat at the computer once more and pulled up the specs for the new Batman suit. What would be good for a new sidekick, he wondered, and who.

**_-- Morning --_**

Terry woke with an odd feeling. The first thing he noticed was the bed beneath him. It was softer than his, confusing him. The second was that he ached in a few places, like he'd pushed himself sometime the night before. The third was that he had an amazingly pleasant feeling, as though he'd visited heaven in his dreams.

Then he opened his eyes. With the onslaught of light came the onslaught of memories, and he sat up quick, eyes going wide in shock.

No way.

He looked beside him on the bed, and saw an angel wrapped in a blanket, still sleeping soundly. Her lips were curved in a smile, having pleasant dreams, undoubtedly.

Oh god save him. His mother was going to kill him for not coming home, his brother was going to hang on him asking a billion questions, Bruce was going to fry him alive for turning off the phone and when Dana's parents got home –

Terry was screwed, utterly and completely. Despite knowing all this, he didn't feel an ounce of regret, and looking at Dana was making him smile. He laid back down and wrapped her in his arms, closing his eyes. Last night was too wonderful and perfect to regret, really.

And if anybody opposed this – anybody who found out, that is – they would just have to deal with the fact that he and Dana loved each other. At the moment, the world around him didn't matter; Dana was his world. And what a wonderful world it was.

He kissed her forehead and brushed her hair back from her face. A glance at the clock told him it was seven, his usual waking time. Luckily the alarm didn't go off, which meant is was the weekend and weekend meant no school.

Which meant to pressure to get out of bed until he was good and ready.

Some time later Dana moaned softly in waking and her eyes fluttered. When she looked at him, he heart stopped for a full three seconds before it continued.

"Good morning," he said quietly.

She smiled. "Wonderful morning."

He smirked. "Spectacular morning," he countered.

She laughed. "Infinitely grand morning."

He laughed too. He found his boxer shorts on the floor and lifted them up, waving them in surrender. "I give, you win."

She laughed out of delight this time.

Dropping them, he sat up. "There's something I want to tell you today, Dana."

Holding the cover to her chest, she sat up as well. "Can you tell me now?"

He blinked. "Why? Is there something you want to do or. . ?"

She laughed. "I just don't like waiting to be told things."

He nodded. "Well, it's a bit more of a show-and-tell thing, which is why I said 'today'."

"Okay. Whenever you feel the time is right, I'm ready to listen," she replied, taking his hand.

"And I'm lucky beyond belief," he said unconsciously.

Dana blushed and glanced down, biting her lip. "I thought _I_ was the lucky one."

"Maybe we both are," he tried, leaning closer to her. He lifted their grasped hands and kissed her fingers, one by one.

And she giggled. "Terry. . ."

Lifting his head, he said, "Dana."

Around lunchtime he remembered about his cell phone and hastily turned it back on. Both he and Dana had taken a shower after waking, gotten dressed and had breakfast. Up until now they had been teasing one another with silly games and complimenting each other. Dana had gotten up not a minute ago to make some sort of lunch.

Terry took the time to call Bruce and find out what he had wanted last night.

"Hello, Terry," Bruce answered.

"Uh, hi. Why'd you call last night?"

"Batman was needed."

He gulped. He was going to get an earful, he just knew it. "I was, um. . ."

"With Dana."

Shock held him silent for a few moments. "How did you know that!" he snapped at last.

"Basic detective work. Don't worry about what happened last night."

"With Batman? What – why?"

"Our new friend Felina showed up and took care of what I was calling you for."

"Oh." He blinked, then asked, "So she's our friend now?"

"Who is?" Dana asked from the kitchen.

"I'm taking to Mr. Wayne," he called into the kitchen.

She looked just as shocked as he'd felt earlier. "Is he mad?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Perhaps I should explain this later," Bruce said. A moment later the line went dead.

Terry put the phone back in his jacket pocket. He smiled at Dana. "What are you making? It smells great!"

**_-- Adrian --_**

She woke up with a massive headache. The first thing she did was get up and go into her bathroom, and looked in the mirror. Faint violet marks were slightly visible on her face and body, remnants of what seemed to be a difficult battle during Felina's night.

Though usually these bruises faded completely from Adrian's skin, appearing solely on Felina's, sometimes they remained, when they were worse than usual.

Adrian sighed and bowed her head. What was Felina thinking, getting in over her head like she did? What was worst about being connected like they were was that Felina always knew what Adrian was up to, yet Adrian could only get feelings and fragmented memories from Felina's nights.

And Arian often wondered what it was like to live a constant night, never glimpsing daylight with your own eyes. It was what Felina went though, yet Felina as well never complained. Felina's eyes, after all, were too sensitive of UV rays to allow her to move about freely during the day.

She was, in a sense, too much cat.

Adrian went back to her bed and laid down. It was Saturday now, no school, and no reason to get up at all. That is, until someone knocked on her door.

"Who is it?" she moaned out into her pillow.

"Max," a female voice returned.

Max? Adrian thought about that for a minute. Max. . . Max. . . oh yeah, Max. Terry and Dana's friend. How did Max find her?

Adrian got up wearily and opened the door. Max grinned at her and waved.

"How can you be so perky?" Adrian asked in a slur.

"It's past noon," Max informed her. "And there's something I wanted to talk to you about. . ."

"Fire away," Adrian yawned, stepping back. "But first. . . how did you find my place?"

"Simple, I'm good with computers," Max returned easily. "There's no code I can't crack, no restricted area I can't enter, no virus I can't kill and trace."

"So there's no hiding anything from you unless it's not on a random computer somewhere on the other side of the planet with absolutely no internet or satellite connection."

"Exactly," Max laughed. "Now sit. . ."

Adrian nodded and sat on her bed, rubbing her eyes. "What's on your mind?"

_**:End Chapter:**_

YAY I finished the next chapter, finally! Can I get a cheer?

_**:Nothing:**_

Well you all suck.

Anyway, review please. Soon as I get my scanner, I'll scan the pics I've made of Felina and Adrian. Check my bio for a link to my gallery, I have a 'new' picture of them up. Sadly, you cannot view it without having an account, as it has 'mature content'. . . Basically the two of them are naked but Adrian's back is turned and Felina. . . is covered in fur.

See ya next chapter!


	7. Six

**Felina**

**Chapter 6: **

Adrian blinked and couldn't help but stare at Max, who was standing slightly tilted, arms crossed, across from Adrian. At length she said, "I can't believe you figured it out so fast."

"Were you expecting to never hear a word about it?" Max returned, smiling.

Adrian shook her head and stood up. "Not really. But still, so fast. . ."

"I know. But Adrian. . ." Max moved to sit down. "As long as we're sharing, I have secrets too."

"Like what?" Adrian asked, going over to the kitchen and getting two glasses of water.

"You like helping Batman, don't you?" Max asked as Adrian returned the glasses and handed one to Max.

"Yeah, I do." Adrian sat down beside Max and stared off at the wall. "I can tell he's different from the one who lived and fought fifty years ago. . . but I what I don't know, is whether or not that Batman is still alive."

"And what would you do if you knew?"

Adrian looked over at Max and sighed. "I need some detective work."

Max leaned back a little and took a drink, then set the glass aside. "Why do you need detective work?"

"You don't know yet?" At Max's inquisitive look, Adrian looked down at her feet. "I know some people are heroes because they choose to be, and go beyond their limits. I know some are aliens. I know some have been changed for various reasons, and some were just born better."

". . . And?" Max prodded.

"I was a test subject." Having said it for the first time to another living being, Adrian sat up straight and went on. "I was one of the first people to be spliced. It had the strangest effect on me than any of the others, because at first, no changes happened at all. So they kept adding doses of various kinds of cats, getting more dramatic as they went along, and lastly picking an albino tiger, because of its rareness.

"And then later that night, all the DNA mixed, but refused to mix with my own blood. Now I have two kinds of blood in me, but the cats' is so much less, that it can't come fully out but for a few hours a night. Whether I want it to or not, it always comes out. . . And it's given me longer life. . . as well as. . ."

"What?" Max asked when Adrian stopped. "What is it?" She reached over and put her hand on Adrian's shoulder.

Adrian shook her head. "I died just a few months ago. And when I died, my entire body changed. . . and made me seventeen again. Seventeen, like I was when the splicing began. I can't change anything anymore, not my appearance, not my blood, not my future or past. . ."

Max could clearly hear at this point, the tears in Adrian's voice. "Why do you need detective work, though?" she asked, softly.

Adrian looked up at her, and while the tears were shining in her eyes, she refused to allow any to fall. She said, "I need to hunt down every man and woman who took part in that experiment, for two reasons. First, I need to kill the scientists behind it. And second, I need to kill the other monsters."

Max stared for a long moment before saying, "You mean, the people who were changed, like you? Even if they can help, too?"

"They can't help," Adrian said immediately. "Before I escaped, I checked computers. I'm the only subject to change this way, and the only one who can stay fully conscious. The rest are all in dreams, controlled by the ones who changed them."

Max looked away. "I think it's time to call Bruce."

At that, Adrian blinked. "Bruce?"

"Yes," Max said, standing up. "If you plead your case, he might try to help you out."

"Why?" Adrian asked, standing as well and facing Max.

"Because, Terry works for him. Friends pull strings, you know."

Adrian reached out with her inhuman speed and grabbed Max by the arms. "You can't tell anybody else," she growled out. "I can't be cured; not yet. I have things to do!"

Max stared at Adrian. "Fine. But call me when you finally decide you need more help than you're allowing yourself." She wrenched her arms out of Adrian's grip and crossed the room to the front door. Just before shutting it behind her, she added, "Oh yeah, and I know Batman. The new one _and_ the old one."

Adrian's head snapped up and she watched the door close behind Max.

"_The new one _and_ the old one."_

**-- Later --**

"Come on, Dana," Terry said, opening the front door to Wayne Manor.

Dana smiled. "I don't know you bothered bringing me all the way over here," she said as she entered. "Are you sure this is okay, Terry?"

"Of course it is," he whispered, his mouth near her ear. He shut the door and took her hand, leading her through the house to his destination.

"Right here," he said, finally stopping in a room with a big grandfather clock, a few sofas and a table, with bookshelves along the walls.

Dana paused to look around, then looked over at Terry. "What's the big deal about this room?"

"It's where we're meeting," an old voice said, as Bruce entered the room, leaning heavily on his cane.

Dana stuttered for a second before managing a polite greeting. Terry just smiled at her, then lifted a hand in hello at Bruce.

Instead of moving to sit down, Bruce went straight for the clock. Dana stared in confusion, then glanced up at Terry, who smiled back at her and gestured Bruce and the clock again.

And then Bruce pulled something that Dana couldn't see, and the clock moved aside. While that was surprising, she still didn't see what the big deal was about. Movable clock, huge mansion, secret passageways. Why was it of any importance at all?

Then Bruce entered the passageway and Terry pushed Dana to follow, saying, "This is what I wanted to show you, in here."

Dana looked at him oddly but shrugged it off and followed Bruce, Terry trailing behind her. A dog barked at the end of the stairs, and with every step she descended, she saw a little bit more of a shocking sight. It was a huge cave with various items placed everywhere. . . a huge computer. . . glass cases with. . .

". . .Batman's suits. . ." she managed, looking at them almost blankly. "That's. . . this is. . ." She looked over her shoulder at Terry once they reached the bottom.

Terry was patting the dog, and looked up at her after a moment. "This is Ace," he introduced.

Dana looked down at the dog. "O-oh. . ." She pet Ace a few times. "But, Terry. . ."

Terry pointed at the computer across the room, and Dana looked that way as Bruce sat in the chair. "Where do you think," Terry began, "Batman got all his gadgets and suits?"

She looked back at Terry. "Money. . . but. . ."

"And who in this town has enough money to fund all this?"

She turned and stared straight at Bruce. "Bruce Wayne. . . Wait, are you telling me. . ?"

"Bruce was the first Batman," Terry explained simply. "And I'm the new one."

Dana felt dizzy all at once and turned on her heel, both awed and angered by this new fact. So he was Batman, her Terry, doing the world a favor with nothing to ask in return, constantly risking his very life and shrugging it off afterwards, hiding his identity for the sake of everyone he knew and loved.

And she said, "So this is why you missed all those dates."

Terry grinned at her and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, and I've been wanting to tell you for a long time now."

"Why now, though?" she asked, a little dumbfounded.

"You gave me something great," he said softly, pulling her to him. "I wanted to return the favor. Now you know everything about me."

All of a sudden she really, really wanted to kiss him. She stood on her toes and he leaned down to her in return, but their lips had barely touched when a beeping began at the computer. Though Dana didn't care a lick about it, it seemed to jog a nerve in Terry, because he snapped up his head.

"What is it?" he asked, with a tone to his voice Dana had never heard before.

"Looks like a few dozen Jokers broke into a prison," Bruce was saying, "and are releasing all the prisoners."

Terry looked frustrated and smiled regretfully at Dana. "I have to go to work now," he said simply and kissed her again. "No worries, though; I'll come back."

With that Dana found herself standing alone at the bottom of the stairs with a dog at her thigh, as Terry ran off to change and Bruce kept an eye on the break in-break out.

As Terry returned wearing the suit sans mask, he looked over the available scenes and was about halfway turned away when Bruce said, "And it looks like Felina was following them."

Terry looked up again. "Heh, good. Maybe now I can get a chance to talk to her without her running off."

"Hurry up; I'm putting the coordinates in the jet."

Terry nodded towards Bruce and headed for the jet, putting his mask on. As Dana watched, she couldn't tell if the slight tilt of Terry's head was him glancing at her, or making the mask fit right. With nothing else to do, she mindlessly walked over beside Bruce and looked at the computer screen, once the jet was out of sight.

There was only one she camera she didn't understand, and she pointed at it. "What's that one?"

"That one," Bruce explained, "is the camera in Terry's mask."

She stared. "That's what he's seeing?"

"Yes," Terry's voice said, clearly.

She barely stopped her scream, covering her mouth. "What. . ?"

"Transmitters," Bruce said. "I can hear what he says, and vice versa. I'm monitoring him at all times. You need to relax, Dana."

She sighed. "But. . . I mean. . ."

"Don't think I've never trained him," Bruce said sharply. "I wouldn't send a young man out to die."

"Are you kidding?" Terry snapped. "You nearly killed me **by** training me!"

Bruce chuckled. "And yet you're alive because of it."

Dana could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Do the two of you always argue like this?" she asked neither one.

"All the time," Terry answered. The view on the computer screen of his sight changed as he glanced around.

"What is it?" Bruce asked, suddenly nothing but business.

"I'm not picking up any sound, but I should be hearing all kinds of battle going on."

Dana's insides froze and she found herself shaking, and clumsily sat down on the floor and stared at the screen, silent.

"Do you see anything yet?" Bruce asked gruffly.

"Hold on," Terry's voice replied, and the view changed again as he looked around once more. The jet appeared to stop and he got out through the top. A strange sound reached Dana's ears from the speakers, but she couldn't find her voice enough to ask about it.

Bruce glanced over at her before returning his focus to the screen. "That was Terry activating his stealth. He'll be invisible for a while." He pushed a button on the computer and a whirr reached Dana's ears.

She looked behind her and noticed that a chair was wheeling her way. She stood up as it reached her and sat down gratefully. "Thanks," she managed quietly.

Bruce nodded but otherwise didn't acknowledge her. She watched Terry's screen as it zipped around, flying around while invisible, looking at everything as he did so. As he reached the prison, bodies were seen everywhere, both of prisoners and guards, with graffiti littering the walls.

The floor almost disappeared as Terry rose up, and attached himself to the ceiling as he looked around. Dana found herself holding her breath as she watched.

Then a very audible strangled yell was heard, and Terry went straight for it. He went through a huge gaping hole in a wall, to find Felina mostly tied up with a crowd of a good hundred prisoners and Jokers having fun slapping her around. From the looks of things, she got free more than once and caused a dent in their numbers each time, but this time they seem to have caught her.

Terry didn't waste a second in flying directly above her, visible now, and throwing a batarang to cut through the ropes binding her. She got up and swung mercilessly at the crowd, felling more than one person with each movement, as Terry through more batarangs and other items to capture and knock out as many as he could.

Felina jumped a good twenty feet above the crowd, more than a little bruised with open cuts sporadically littered over her body, and reached up. Terry took her hand and swung her towards the hole he flew through, then threw a few smoke bombs before following her.

Her running on all fours was keeping up with him no problem, and she leapt out a high window after clawing up the wall, which Terry shattered for her.

Bruce sat back and entwined his fingers together, watching as Terry and Felina got away from the horde. He said, "Don't bring her back here. Treat her wounds as best you can where you are."

"Oh, that'll be a piece of cake," Terry replied sarcastically.

Felina turned in his view with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Just thinking about the second run," Terry lied swiftly.

"He keeps you a secret even as Batman?" Dana asked.

"Of course," Bruce said, as Terry's screen showed him sitting down and telling Felina to sit as well. "If people knew that he speaks to me, they would find a way to trace it back here."

"Ohh," was all she could say. She couldn't help feeling more than a little jealous anger as she watched Terry dab at Felina's cuts and then put bandages on them. Meanwhile, Terry and Felina were making small talk, which didn't help Dana's anger at all.

"I thought you couldn't get caught," he stated.

"Yeah, and?" Felina returned hotly. He dabbed a cut a little too hard, half on purpose, and Felina's tail swelled up.

He noticed it and did a double-take. "Did your tail just. . ?"

"Yes," she hissed.

"I didn't even notice you _had_ a tail," he went on and put a bandage on her leg.

"Good to know there's _one_ man who doesn't stare at my backside," she returned harshly.

He looked sideways at her. "What is with you all of a sudden? I don't remember you being this mean before."

"Times change; just leave it at frustration," she said, turning her head away.

He dropped her leg and stood up. "Fine, you can take care of yourself then."

She stood up and walked away from him. Terry watched her go for about ten seconds before Bruce said, "Bring her back here. I want to talk to her."

"Are you kidding?" Terry hissed quietly. "She'd claw me to bits!"

"Reason with her," Bruce prodded.

Terry groaned. "Fine, fine. But if I come back with claw marks. . . you're getting it."

A few minutes and arguing later, and Felina was crammed into the bat jet along with Terry, though she fit magnificently better than Max had fit before. The feline agility had to help with that. And when they made it back and got out, Dana practically jumped into Terry's arms.

And Felina stared straight at them. She said, "I knew you smelled familiar!"

All three looked at her, but Terry didn't take off his mask. Right as Felina opened her mouth to say something else, Ace growled at her and then started barking. Felina hissed in return and darted around the room, Ace chasing after her as Bruce tried to get Ace to heel the entire time. Finally Bruce hit a button on the computer and a mechanical arm snaked out from the floor, grabbed Felina, and held her high above them.

She hissed again, crossed her arms, and pouted.

"Now," Bruce said, sitting down as Ace returned to his side, "Who and what are you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Like you can't tell by looking at me?"

"Answer the questions," Bruce said firmly. "If you do, I'll let you down."

She sighed. "My name is Felina and I'm a catwoman."

"Any relation to Selina Kyle?"

"Met her once, that was it," Felina answered irritably. "I really think we need to get back to that break out and round them all up."

"Getting ahead of yourself there," Terry said, leading himself and Dana back over to Bruce.

"She has a bad attitude," Dana whispered to Terry.

"Yeah, I noticed," Terry whispered back.

"I heard that," Felina snarled at them. "Get let me _down!_"

At that, Bruce pressed the button again and the arm released her and retracted. Felina yelped and freefell for a second, then took a perfect landing on all four. She stood up and planted her hands on her hips.

She said, "Let's get one thing straight. _She_ may need your help, but _I_ don't."

Dana shook her head slightly. "I never said I needed help."

"Not you," Felina snapped. "The other 'me'."

"You have a split personality?" Terry asked.

"In a sense," she replied. "If you count the fact that we're two in one. Our bodies change when the other one takes over."

Terry glanced at Bruce, more than a little confused, as Dana openly stared at Felina.

Bruce said, "How is it that you are how you are?"

"Early splicing experiments. About fifty years ago, I forget the exact year."

"And you are now. . ?"

"Two in one," Felina replied harshly. "Two bodies in one. Two minds in one. _She_ came first."

Right about then, a beeping sounded and Bruce turned around in his chair and looked through a camera. "Max is here."

"Max is part of this?" Dana asked, giving Terry a hard look.

Terry grinned sheepishly. "She found out on her own."

"Terry, Max, Dana," Felina said. "I told you I recognized your scent."

Terry stared at Felina a moment. Then he said, "That makes you Adrian, doesn't it?"

"Adrian?" Dana snapped. She looked sharply at Felina. "You're Adrian?"

"She is the other me," Felina said reluctantly. "She was first. I was second."

Dana looked over at the cameras again, watching as Max passed one camera after another, coming towards the room which led to this cave. "Does Max know about this?"

"She is a sleuth," Felina told her. "She learned of Adrian and I on her own."

"See?" Terry said, gesturing at Felina. "Max just figures this stuff out on her own."

"Wait for Max," Bruce said, leaning back in his chair.

They waited then as Bruce had ordered, Felina taking a seat on the operating table-slash-work bench in the room, always close by. Once Max had joined the party, the night started up again.

Felina began it with, "What are we going to do about that prison?"

"Formulate a plan," Bruce told her, irritably. "With small numbers, we can't go in by ourselves."

"Contact the Justice League?" Terry suggested, having finally pulled his mask off for the time being.

"We don't have enough time to round them up," Bruce said, shaking his head. "We need to think of something quick and get in there."

"Flurry," Felina said. As everyone looked at her, she explained, "One attack after another, never giving them a chance to retaliate."

"Possible," was all Bruce said then.

Max nodded, though. "If you sent in both Terry and Felina at specific times, and programmed the bat jet to move around and let off attacks in specific places. . ."

"Maybe, but they would still need help," Bruce told her.

"Why can't Max and I help?" Dana asked.

"Neither of you are prepared for fighting Jokerz," he replied.

"Get some police to come by," Max suggested.

"Terry," Felina said suddenly, "you saw all those fallen Jokerz in there, didn't you?"

He nodded. "Why bring that up?"

"I'm revitalized from sitting here. I took down all those while tired from my run all the way there. How much damage do you think I could do at my limit?"

"A lot," Terry acknowledged. "But do you really think the both of us, working together could take down all of them?"

"Won't know for sure until we try," she said, standing, "but I'd give it about ninety percent."

Terry shook his head, but Max nodded. "It would work."

Bruce rubbed his forehead. "Alright. I'll contact the police and work out a plan with the commissioner. You two get going."

Felina hissed, grinning, as Terry got up and put his mask back on. Dana grabbed his arm before he'd gotten a step, though.

She said, "You'd better be careful."

He smiled and kissed her. "No problem."

"Aww, you two are cute," Max added.

"We don't need your two cents," Dana threw at Max.

Terry laughed softly and pulled his arm from Dana's. "We have to hurry, so bye for now."

Dana managed a smile and nodded, but as soon as Terry and Felina were gone, she sat on the floor and stared at her knees.

Max worked on comforting her for about a minute, before Bruce finished talking with Barbara and turned in his chair. "Now, the two of you. . ."

They both looked up.

**-- Prison --**

As Terry fought alongside Felina, he found that she hadn't been kidding when she described her strengths. She was kicking ass almost faster than he could see. Every time he managed to glance at her, she'd taken down another two Jokerz. He was doing just as well, really, with the aid of the Batjet flying around and shooting down inmates every ten seconds or so.

Their numbers, despite being overwhelming, were cut in half with five minutes, but in five minutes, Terry's muscles were starting to feel the strain. Most of his battles were won or lost within three, really. And in the event they lasted longer, that 'longer' usually involved some sort of break where the villain chatted on about their scheme.

As he glanced at Felina again, he noticed that she was slowing down, too. About another minute passed and he was struck, having missed the arm coming at him. Considering he didn't hear a scream in his earphone, Dana hadn't been watching. Which was good, really.

Then he heard a clear yelp and Felina landed on top of him. This was taking too much time. He had to round them up, and soon. It had taken fifteen minutes just to fly over here, and another five to scout everything out before beginning the fight.

He got up after Felina did, once more surrounded on all sides by Jokerz who were just aching to hurt them. The 'flurry' idea was working for a while, at least.

"Freeze!"

Great, the police.

But when Terry glanced up, he saw these weren't run-of-the-mill rent-a-cops. These were full out SWAT members. Laserguns, stun bombs, shields, body armor, the whole bit. Nice work, there, Bruce.

Terry grabbed ahold of Felina and flew up, clinging to the ceiling with claws and magnets, as Felina held half to him and have to the ceiling. Cops threw stun bombs as soon as they were out of the way, and Jokerz began falling left and right as they scrambled over themselves to get out of the way.

Then retaliation began, and even with all the cops, Batman, and Felina, they were losing pretty bad after another ten minutes. Terry's entire body was aching by the time he got away from the group and managed to cling to the rafters, which is where Felina had retreated to just a few seconds before. Not as many of the police were so lucky, most of them knocked out, bruised, some even bleeding and broken.

"You getting this?" he said heavily, catching his breath. When he heard no response, he tapped his ear and added, "Bruce, you getting this?"

Not getting a response, he found himself worried, tired, bruised, and facing near-impossible odds. Beneath him, the rafter beam exploded and he jumped back, but didn't make it too far. A chain whipped around his ankle, wrapped tightly, and then he was being pulled down.

"Shit!" he cursed, swiping at the chains with one set of claws, and not doing much damage. He was yanked harder, and then he was being wrapped in chains from every direction. His feet were knocked from under him, and then Felina was once more dropped on top of him, also wrapped in chains, even her tail. She hissed at everyone around them, then snarled.

One of the Jokerz stepped closer and laughed. "A cat and a bat. What should we do with them?"

An inmate stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. "It was the cat who put me here. I'd like a few shots at her."

"Leave some for me," another one chuckled. "She didn't put me here, but there's a little _something_ I'd like to do with her."

Most of the men oooh'd and cheered, adding lude comments about what they would like to do with her. And Felina snarled again, then roared, making quite a few jump and glance around as though they were trying to spot a tiger. She writhed on his stomach as he worked on getting his hands free, her chains loosening slightly as they began migrating lower.

"Hold up, hold up!" one of the inmates snapped, a huge brute of a man. He grabbed Felina by the chains on her back and hoisted her up. "This little patch of fur is going to me first," he drawled.

Felina roared again and writhed more, sharply this time, managing a kick to the man's jaw. Hardly fazed by the hit, he threw her down on top of Terry, both of them grunting from the collision.

"Dammit, if you've got any plans, now would be the time," he growled out, half to Felina and half to the missing-in-action Bruce.

Not a response from anyone this time. He could have growled, but found he couldn't make a sound when the burly inmate from earlier stomped heavily on his chest. He gasped painfully out of reflex, as everyone around laughed at them. Felina wriggled out of her chains as they were distracted and clawed at the burly man, her nails making ribbons of his face and sending him reeling back, holding his face and shrieking.

She reached for Terry but never managed a grasp, because at that moment, two things happened. First, a Joker swung a long metal bar at her back. And second, a woman in black came flying into the prison, riding on the Batjet. It sent out electrified nets in every direction, catching many Jokerz and sending the rest running back.

Felina clawed right through Terry's chains and helped him up. He flew up to the Batjet and inside as Felina leapt up and grasped hands with the female on the hood, and the moment he grabbed the jet's handles, it sped off. For a moment Terry wondered what would happen to the rest of the police who were still at the mercy of the inmates and Jokerz, but as he looked in a screen that showed behind him, he saw quite a few heroes from the Justice League begin rounding up everyone and get the officers out of there.

He leaned back in the seat and pulled up a screen that showed the hood, as the woman in black and Felina moved back, taking up surfing positions. They would be fine there, so he let the Batjet return the cave. He had a few questions for Bruce about the disappearance.

Once there, he stalked right over to Bruce, forgetting momentarily about the woman in black. "Where were you?" he snapped.

"Getting her," Bruce replied, nodding behind him.

Terry turned around and took another look at the woman. As he looked carefully, he noticed that not only was she in black, but she had a bat symbol on her chest – but it was dark blue. Feeling oddly cold at seeing that, and exactly how much like his own outfit hers was, he turned back to Bruce.

"Who is she?" he said, carefully.

"Dana," Bruce said softly.

"You let her out there?" Terry exploded. "What is wrong with you?"

"Terry," Dana said, catching his arm and pulling the mask off. "It's not like he had to force me –"

"It was way too dangerous!" Terry swept on. "You could have gotten hurt, or worse!"

"We had a plan, Terry," Dana snapped. "And it was just a one-time thing. You're too uptight."

"Upt – up_tight?_" he choked out, pulling his mask off. "Plan or not, you could have gotten hurt! I won't let you just wander out there whenever you want and. . ." He shook his head.

"Are you done now?" Dana asked, impatiently.

He glared at Bruce, who said, "The plan was to wait for the Justice League to reply and come to help. She was to help you and Felina get out of there. Nothing else." He stood up with some difficulty and added, "And this is the last time she will wear that suit."

Terry took a deep breath and sighed it out. "Fine, but don't ever do something that dangerous again."

Dana rolled her eyes. "Like you took a desk job."

He stuttered for a second, then snapped, "I've never gotten that badly hurt!"

"And you never will, I suppose," she replied, not looking at him.

This was going to be a problem, he just knew it. So he let it drop for now, looking over at Felina, and finding that Max was still here and talking to her. He went over to them and grabbed Max by the arm.

She jumped, then smiled sheepishly at him. "Hi, Terry?"

"Did you help Bruce at all with getting that costume ready?" he demanded.

"A little bit?" Max tried.

Terry grumbled and let go of Max. "How much did you help?"

"Just getting it right for Dana. It took like ten minutes."

"It was way schway," Dana threw in.

Terry had a reply on the tip of his tongue when Felina broke in, hunching over and holding her stomach.

She cursed. "I've been out too long, I have to get back."

"Get back to your apartment?" Bruce asked, coming over.

She nodded, then fell to her knees. Max knelt and put an arm around her, saying, "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," Felina snapped. "Don't worry, it happens twice every day." She broke off on a groan, slumping over until her forehead hit the ground.

Then her fur began rippling and Max jumped back, letting go. Everyone present stared in fascination, even Ace. She panted heavily on the floor, and her began growing out more, but the hair that grew out was white. And as it grew, her tail retracted, her fur thinned and changed colors, spots and stripes fading until she was pale-skinned. The red hair fell off where the white hair began, and finally she stopped shuddering and merely sat.

Max said, tentatively, "Adrian?"

She lifted her head and instantly Terry recognized her as Adrian, down to the eyeshadow – or what he once thought was eyeshadow. She said, "Ow."

Max half-smiled. "Back to yourself?"

"Doing fine, never better," Adrian groaned as she stood up. Then she glanced around in total surprise, spotted Terry and Dana, and yelped. "You're Batman?" she said in disbelief.

Terry glanced at Dana, who shrugged. Then Bruce said, "You don't remember what you experience as Felina?"

She shook her head. "Not a second of it – ow!" She grabbed her arm, then stared at the dark bruise. "And usually wounds heal entirely when we change back and forth. What was she doing all night?"

"Fighting Jokerz who broke into a prison and freed all the inmates," Terry said nonchalantly.

Adrian stared at him for a long moment, then looked over at Bruce, long and hard. Finally, she announced, "You were the first Batman. Man, what a scent," she added quietly, and scratched her nose.

Terry snickered reflexively, then cleared his throat and patted his chest innocently. Bruce glared at him, but Terry just snickered again, and beside him, Dana giggled quietly as well.

"Oh, you two have it all wrong," Adrian stated. "Batman's always had a very unique scent – and you're no exception, Terry," she sneered.

He didn't know what to say anymore, but Bruce chuckled lightly and moved to sit on the nearest stool. Dana asked, "Is that unique scent. . . good, at all?"

"Always has been, probably always will be," Adrian replied easily, scratching at the bruise on her arm. "Every superhero I've smelled has been a unique scent. I think it has something to do with strength, smarts, and resolve."

"Wait, resolve can change scents?" Terry asked in disbelief.

"Must be. Every person with a weak will has a weak scent. As willpower increases, so do their scents." She looked around. "I have to get back home and sleep."

Terry looked over at Bruce, who shrugged and gestured the stairs. Terry looked back over at Adrian and said, "Looks like I'm driving everyone home."

_**:End Chapter:**_

By doing some research, I've learned quite a bit about Batman Beyond. Check out and search for Batman Beyond to learn about it. For instance, Barabara actually takes in another Batgirl, which cancels out any Batgirls any of you might take an interest in. And Batwoman is off the list of available names, too; there's been quite a few of them.

Wikipedia is the perfect place to go for info, really. You learn so much there. I may bring back Dana and her outfit, but with modifications and a new name. Also, as it turns out, if any of you cancel out Dana and give Terry and new girlfriend. . . you break the entire storyline, because in the future, Terry and Dana actually get married.

YAY for Terry and Dana! I knew they had it in them. Smiles all around, they make such a gorgeous couple. Still kinda bummed that Bruce never gets a wife and stuff, but at least he's got a surrogate son in Terry.

See ya next chapter!


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